North East Mayor Kim McGuinness is set to greenlight £101.2m bus enhancements and aims to reclaim control of the bus system.

Immediately upon her election, McGuinness sought potential reform avenues to fulfil this key manifesto pledge, triggering an investigation into the future operation of the regional bus system.

Council members will deliberate bus reform proposals in July.

A report will subsequently advise that the Mayor and Cabinet move forward with the Franchising Scheme Assessment (FSA) - the next phase in formal procedures.

Regulating a bus system again is a complex statutory legal process, expected to take two years and eight months.

This timeline takes into account lessons learnt from other regions that have undertaken the same process, as well as the unique urban, rural, and coastal geography of the North East CA.

Efforts to expedite the procedure will be made when feasible.

Legislation modifications to speed up bus franchising announced in the King’s Speech may also potentially be relevant.

Meanwhile, immediate improvements have been introduced across the regional public transport system using the region's Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding.

The North East Combined Authority (NECA) Cabinet will officially allocate £101.2m for various schemes in July.

These schemes include affordable fare schemes and enhancements to local bus operations.

The NECA was established on May 7 this year.

Led by the Mayor and Cabinet, it encompasses the seven local authority areas - County Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside, and Sunderland.

In the 1980s, the bus system was deregulated, empowering private bus companies to compete for passengers and set commercial bus routes, schedules, fares, and overall standards.

Unfortunately, less commercially lucrative routes are sometimes abandoned by private bus operators, isolating residents from the network.

The official allocation of £101.2m arises from the region’s BSIP funding award, which totals £163.5m.

North East Mayor, Kim McGuinness, said: "Our bus system needs to work better for local people. I said I would greatly improve public transport in my manifesto and I will make this a reality.

"Bus travel is incredibly important to residents – it's by far the largest form of public transport in our region, responsible for 106 million journeys in 2022/23 but passenger levels have been in a steady decline for decades and are still much lower than pre-covid levels.

"We need to recognise that the existing system is broken and things need to change if we are to grow bus use and improve things for passengers. Local people need our bus system to be more reliable - to trust buses will turn up on time - and affordable, so that cheap tickets help people reach new opportunities for work or education.

"I hear from residents about the issues they face every day and it’s not good enough - the bus system is simply not working for the vast majority of passengers.

"I'm determined to deliver a high quality, integrated network so that once again public transport is something we can put our trust in, and something we can all be proud of."